Forgive me!

I thought that keeping up with this would come naturally, but I find that it slips to the back of my mind a lot... and for that I am sorry!

You would think that since I'm out of school for the summer that I'd have plenty of time to do this, call everyone, etc. Well, that couldn't be farther from the truth. I work almost double than what I did before, and I've been moving for the past two weeks.

Here's a few basic updates:

Clay and I went on vacation to Siesta Key, Key West, and Orlando in the end of May, and I still haven't even uploaded pictures from that! I'm uploading pictures and blogging about it this week- PROMISE!

Sunset in Siesta Key

On June 16, Niki (Clay's sis) had her beautiful baby boy- Stephen Alfred Bech II. He is absolutely precious and has more hair than I've ever seen on a baby. I wish we lived closer so we could see them more (as well as everyone in both of our families)!

A couple of weeks ago, Clay and I signed a lease and started moving into our new townhome. It's really cute and was just remodeled. and I'm going to have a lot of fun doing DIY stuff from Pinterest to decorate it!
I'll blog about that with pictures as well as things come together a little more.

More soon- for real this time!

xoxo,
E

Busy, busy, busy! And big news (for me)!

This past week was probably worse than finals week will be. I had two tests (not finals), three papers, three smaller papers, and a presentation. I'm EXHAUSTED!

Last weekend, before this Hell week began, Clay and I went hiking. Elwood came too! There is a place a little over an hour away from Baton Rouge called Tunica Hills. It has beautiful creeks and waterfalls. It was a lot of fun!

         

This past Wednesday was a nice break from everything I had going on this week.  Ms. Peggy (Clay's momma) invited me to go with her and Niki (Clay's sister) to the Viking Cooking School.  It's located on the pool level of the Hilton in Downtown Baton Rouge.  We didn't actually cook, but we learned how to cook a few things that we were served: Grilled tuna, grilled shrimp, and grilled drum fish.  Each one was different and SO delicious!

Last night, Clay, his roommate Stephen, and I went to see the midnight premiere of

the Avengers.

IT. WAS. AWESOME.

This weekend we are doing a beer tour in New Orleans with Clay's parents, his sister and brother-in-law, and my parents, Niki's baby shower, and JAZZ FEST!  I'm excited. Unfortunately, I will have to return to finals next week. But oh well, it'll be nice to relax before it.

Oh! And my big news! Actually, a lot of people already know. But here are the two awesome things I'm excited about:

1. I am going to be the Godmother of Chad & Tiffany's (my cousins) new baby due this October!

2. I got a promotion at work! I will be the manager of Storyville Baton Rouge for the summer :)

That's all for now! Stay tuned for an update after this weekend.

xoxo,

E

ΣΦΛ Initiation

On Wednesday night, my sisters of the Beta class and I were officially initiated as members of Sigma Phi Lambda! I am very excited! We had 16 girls, including myself, that stayed in the class to initiation.

I'm not positive I can really go into detail about it, but I will tell you that it was a beautiful ceremony. We were all dressed up, so that was fun. And we received our sorority pin! It's a little lamb [our symbol] with our letters under it! I have such a beautiful Phi Lamb family and I am so blessed to officially be a part of it!

Our pin!

After the ceremony we took loads of pictures [and ate some appetizers], so check some of the pictures out below!

Beta class & the execs

Janie, Cally, and me

Grand big (Candace), Big (Cally), and me

Pretty much the whole sorority, minus a few red-dressers that couldn't make it

French Quarter Fest!

This past Sunday, Clay and I went to the last day of the French Quarter Fest. It was pretty fun, just because it was so nice to be down there with all the people.

We had Elwood with us, and the only picture I got that night was of him! He seems to love NOLA just as much as we do.

Wassupppp

We just walked around and listened to the music as we passed. We stopped and ate at a little gelato shop in Pirate Alley called La Divina Cafe e Gelateria that also sells good sandwiches. They even had frozen gelato treats for pups, so we got Elwood one.

After that we just walked around the French Market, and on our way back to the car, stopped and listened to The Revealers. They're a reggae-ish band that I definitely enjoyed!

That's pretty much all I have for now- it was just a really relaxed day, so even though it makes for a dull post, I'm not too sorry cause it was nice to have a day like that!

xoxo,
E

PS- This week I signed up to do the Color Run coming to New Orleans in November! So far my mom, Clay, and some of my sisters are on my team. Anyone who wants to do it can join my team! I don't benefit from it, but if you register with a team it's cheaper than registering as a solo runner. So, feel free to use my team! Just contact me for details on how to join it if you're interested.

[[INITIATION BLOG COMING TOMORROW]]

Oops!

Yep! A blog for the second day in a row! My mom reminded me I forgot to blog about some stuff- some big stuff that I can't believe I forgot! This is gonna be a long one...

Number 1: FORMAL!

Last month, my sorority had its very first formal! It was at the absolutely stunning Nottoway Plantation. I had seen many pictures of this place online and I've been in love with every aspect of it, so when I found out that's where our formal was to be held, I was beyond ecstatic. 

Some of my sisters!

Our event was held in the Randolph Ballroom, which is a separate building to the left of the main house. We went around and explored the grounds a little bit. It was dark when we got there, so there wasn't good lighting for pictures, but there was no way in hell that was going to stop me! It's too beautiful!

In front of the plantation

Inside of the plantation, there is this room that is pure white with white furniture, and everything is lined in gold. It is so amazing. We didn't get to go in it, but I got to admire it from the front porch window. *swoon*

The plantation also provided some yummy food for us. I pigged out on red beans... I just can't control my southern girl cravings. We also had a photo booth set up! It made it a lot of fun... Here's one of our pictures :)

I love getting dressed up. And I loved my dress and can't wait to wear it again! Here's one final picture... (there are more of Facebook, though!)

Candace (grand big), Cally (big), and me!

Number 2: Jimmy Buffett

Clay and I went to New Orleans during the Final Four to take advantage of the free Jimmy Buffett concert. I haven't ever seen him before, but I loved him! He was wearing a Free Sean Payton shirt. AND Sean Payton came out for one song. It was amazing.

Both of our parents went, so we spent the first half of the concert with mine, and the second half with his.

Mom and me

Mr. Greg and me

Clay and me

Clay also broke up a fight. Between two women. He was the youngest guy there... it was actually funny.

Number 3: Random upcoming stuff that you can look out for a blog about!

• Tomorrow Clay and I are going to the French Quarter Fest! I've never actually been to that one before (I don't think), so I'm excited. Plus a day off work- YES! 
• This coming Wednesday, I will be initiated into Sigma Phi Lambda!
• Hiking at Tunica Hills at the end of this month!
• We are also going to Jazz Fest this year. We are only going one day though- it's so expensive! And overcrowded. We are going May 6 to see Foo Fighters.
• The Friday before that, Clay's parents, my parents, and Clay's sister and brother-in-law, and Clay and I are going to do the Gordon Biersch brewery tour. Should be fun. But me and his sister can't taste- I'm 20 and she's preggo.
• Clay's family day is in May where we go get to spend the day on base doing stuff. They also have an airman's ball the same weekend- *fingers crossed* we go! It's at the WWII museum!
• There's a trip in our future (at the end of May). All I'm going to say for now is beach hopping (sorta).

Number 4: Color run!

The Color Run is coming to New Orleans! It isn't till February, but that's okay because I gotta train. It's only a 5K, but I can barely run AT ALL. I have zero endurance. I may be thin, but I'm super out of shape. 

If you don't know what that is, it's a run where you get blasted with colored (all natural) powder at each mile marker. At the end, you are all colorful and you get to eat and have a party. It's called the happiest run on earth. I WILL do it! If you want to know more about it, click here!

Okay! I think I finally covered everything.

xoxo,

E

Feeling Crafty

Hi y'all

It's definitely been a while since I've blogged- sorry! I honestly have just been swamped in work and school, tests, homework, tutoring (but that's finally over), etc. so I haven't had time. Plus, nothing interesting has been going on so I wouldn't have had anything to write about.

Right now, I'm on Spring Break. I didn't get to take a long vacation, but my roommate Hannah and I went to the beach for two days. We stayed in Gulf Breeze, which is the little place in between Pensacola and Pensacola Beach, so we were super close to Pensacola Beach but didn't have to pay a lot of money.
On the way there, we stopped at the outlet mall in Gulfport and went shopping. It was a lot of fun and we got a lot of good stuff for cheap!
After that, we made our way to our hotel and layed out the small private beach they had. We had dinner at this place called the Fish House, where I had AWESOME shrimp and grits. It had some cream sauce with bacon and other stuff I didn't even know what it was, but it was good. So good I felt like I should tell y'all.

The next day we went to the boardwalk and ate and walked around, then spent a few hours on the beach again. We caught a baby puffer fish with our bare hands! It was really cute. I'm not even sure if it was really a puffer fish but it looked like one and puffed up like one.

We also had an encounter with an evil goose. The thing came out of nowhere and followed Hannah and me when we were walking back to our chairs. When we got to our chairs, it got out of the water and started coming toward us. I know from my aunt having goose trouble in the past that they are not animals you wanna mess with. So I bolted. Hannah was able to swoop in an grab some of her stuff real quick, but I didn't even try- so I wasn't able to get any pictures of it. It tried to steal Hannah's mat and my beach towel. Any time Hannah would go towards it, it would flare up its wings and growl. IT WAS SO EVIL. It finally went to drink water, so we snuck in and grabbed our stuff and went to the pool. The beach wasn't big enough to escape the goose.

On the way home, we stopped and pigged out on Dairy Queen because it was our last fast food experience. We vowed to stop eating fast food and drinking soda... and when we figured out our small meal there was 1000 calories, it only made me feel better about doing it.

Even though it was a very short trip, it was nice to get away. Every day of the break, other than those two days, I'm working. But, since I don't have school, I've been able to relieve my itch to craft!

I've been wanting to paint a certain thing for my parents' boat, and I was finally able to do it last night.

     

   Just the background

Finished product

I came home from work yesterday and just sat on my back porch and painted.  The quote is an Emerson quote that I really like, and I felt like it fit their dream that they are working on making a reality. (Click the pictures to enlarge them!)

I woke up this morning and sewed something, too. I can't post it yet because it's a gift, but I'll post a blog about it after I give it to the recipient! I'll probably do the tutorial on it for y'all. I'm really excited about it! I'm probably going to wind up sewing something else to go with it, but again, I can't say what it is! It's killing me. Here's a sneak peak- but I promise you won't guess it if I haven't personally told you what it is. I hadn't even heard of it till I found it while hunting down projects on a craft blog.

I also have another painting in the works that it almost done- another quote painting. It should be done tomorrow! *fingers crossed*

And after I finish that one, I have another Star Wars character painting to do. It's a new one that I came up with the pattern for, so I'm hoping it comes out okay! I actually made a pattern for two different characters, but I'm probably only going to have the time to do one before the break is up.

Another thing I want to sew is a maxi dress. I found a really easy tutorial for it, but with all these paintings and other sewing projects going on, it'll be summer before I can do that. I have been feeling so crafty that I went overboard and put too many projects on my plate LOL.

That's all for now! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend :)

xoxo,

E

Birchbox

Hey, y'all!

I just wanted to tell y'all about a little box of awesome I'm starting to get every month.
It is called Birchbox, and it contains beauty products and samples. You pay $10 a month and receive it in the mail. It's like Christmas every month!

This is the first month I have gotten it. For the month of March, Birchbox teamed up with TeenVogue and let the editors pick what went in the box for the month.

Inside was the following:

• Sample of hair serum
• Essie nail polish
• Lip gloss/moisturizer
• A TwistBand
• Sample of Twirl perfume
• Discount for TeenVogue
• Discount for ModCloth

I like being able to try out products :) I'm not sure if it will always be this type of stuff since it was picked by TeenVogue, but I'll find out next month!

If you like something in the box, you can go to the Birchbox website and purchase it. Most of the things in the box are samples, but some (like the nail polish and lip gloss) are full-sized. They offer full sizes of every product in the box.

If you are interested in learning more about it or getting it, go here!

(I am not affiliated with or compensated by Birchbox)

Just thought I'd share!

Xoxo, 

E